W. E. Smith Family Charitable Trust makes awards

OXFORD — Twenty-four projects involving local or regional history in Southwestern Ohio have been awarded grants totaling more than $67,000 from the W. E. Smith Family Charitable Trust.

Advisory Board members of the Trust reviewed applications from local and regional historical organizations, museums, libraries, schools, and other non-profit groups seeking funds in support of publishing and publication projects, collection maintenance and documentation and educational programs.

The Smith Trust was established by the estate of Ophia Smith, longtime Oxford resident who wrote books on Oxford history, and together with her husband W. E. Smith, who chaired Miami University’s history department and was first Director of the William Holmes McGuffey Museum, collaborated on research and writing of a three-volume “History of Southwestern Ohio: The Miami Valleys.” Dr. Smith also wrote numerous monographs and papers, and gave hundreds of lectures throughout the United States on subjects in history.